Songs of the Heart : Jeanne and John Pisano, a.k.a. the Flying Pisanos, seem perfectly mated in marriage and in their band. But music wasn’t what brought them together.

SHERMAN OAKS —  Jeanne and John Pisano have a wonderful aspect to their thriving, 18-month marriage: The singer and guitarist, calling themselves the Flying Pisanos, have a tidy little band offering everything from originals in the Brazilian mode to natty versions of classic standards such as “My Ship.”

Funny thing, though. The Pisanos didn’t really investigate their potential for musical affinity when they were falling in love.

“At first there were so many pluses,” says John Pisano, the gifted jazz guitarist who composed a few hits for Herb Alpert’s Tijuana Brass, of which he was a long-term member. Then he found out how good a singer she is, he says.

“John knew I was a singer, but I didn’t make a big thing about it,” says Jeanne Pisano, a professional vocalist for more than 20 years who has spent much of her career as a teacher. “I didn’t want to. It was about us as people first.”

“That was the scary part,” says John Pisano at the couple’s home in Studio City. “She was so perfect” as a mate. “Supposing she’s a bad singer. What do you do?”

So their musical relationship blossomed very naturally and relaxedly. “He’d be noodling on a tune, and I’d kind of fall in, and he’d say something like, ‘Hey, you’ve got great pitch,’ ” Jeanne says. “Then we started doing standards around the house. We started working on music because it was fun and felt good.”

The musicians decided they wanted to perform, but not a lot. “We didn’t want to set the world on fire,” John says. “We just wanted to do some fun gigs.” The couple have appeared at Lunaria in West Los Angeles, done a 10-day stint in Hong Kong, and will perform Sunday at the Room Upstairs at Le Cafe in Sherman Oaks.

“It’s complete freedom for us,” he says. “This girl is a marvelous musician. She has a fantastic range, and great musicality. I can get lost, and she goes straight ahead. Nothing throws her.”

Heard on a demo tape, the Pisanos sound special. Jeanne’s alto voice is clear and warm, and she sings with feeling and panache. John Pisano, long regarded as one of the top jazz guitar players, supports his wife’s vocals with delicately placed chords and solos with ringing, melodic lines that please the ear.

The Pisanos say they were in love from their first meeting, in 1990--at a party given by Heather Gold, a former student of Jeanne Pisano’s--Gold had planned to introduce them. And at Le Cafe, they’ll offer plenty of songs of the heart, including, it goes without saying, “My Funny Valentine.”

“How could we not?” asks Jeanne rhetorically.

The couple also will offer some of their piquant originals, many in a Brazilian or Latin vein, and equipped with lyrics by Jeanne Pisano, who has devised words for songs recorded by Cleo Laine and Dianne Reeves.

Jeanne says she’s been writing lyrics off and on for many years, adding that she works in a completely intuitive manner.

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“For ‘Awake, My Love,’ written for Cleo, I just heard the music, and it was like a movie unfolded before my eyes,” she says. “I don’t even feel like I wrote it. It just flowed through me.” Another lyric, written recently, came to her while she was ironing, she says.

John says he has had similar experiences as a composer. “I just sit there and wait for these things to come,” he says. “I’ll put a fragment on tape, then another, and one day they’ll all fit together. Where does it come from? I can’t explain it.”

The name “the Flying Pisanos” arose as a gag from a friend, the keyboardist Edward del Barrio.

“Jeanne and John sounded so corny we couldn’t stand it, and Eddie suggested the name as a gag,” says John Pisano. “It seemed silly enough to make it. It’s now the name of our publishing company as well, and maybe one day we’ll get in a circus.”

Though the Pisanos are hoping to do an album, maybe make some commercials, they’d really like to find a hotel bar in a place like Italy, and work there for a month.

“That’s our fantasy,” John says.

Where and When What: The Flying Pisanos, who appear with Brian Kilgore, percussion, Matt Harris, keyboards, and Ken Wild, bass. Location: The Room Upstairs at Le Cafe, 14633 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks. Hours: 8:30 and 10:30 p.m. Sunday. Price: $5 cover, two-drink minimum. Call: (818) 986-2662.